The Short of It
by Lady Lemons
Summary: After the events of 'Reunion' Lex decides to try and answer a nagging question. Will he dig up any dirt on the Green Arrow?
1. Intimidation

Disclaimer: The characters and world of 'Smallville' do not belong to me. However, I promise to put them back (in more or less the same condition) when I'm done playing with them.

Author's Note: Each 100 word chapter (true Drabbles) revolves around a one word prompt—i.e. the title—and connects to the larger story arc. The first eight are tags for the episode 'Reunion.' However, they pretty much springboard off after that.

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_Intimidation--(Reunion tag)_

Ignoring the elevator's slow journey to the penthouse, Lex Luthor psyched himself for the looming appointment. Intentionally paying visit to one person who made his school-days miserable was a necessary obligation.

Oliver's timely arrival in Metropolis mysteriously correlated with an increase in dodgy situations for Lex. Whether it was karma or simple coincidence, Lex wanted the permanent departure of his old nemesis.

Lex could brush off Geoffrey and Alden's crude (but not underserved) murders. He also reconciled with the occasional attempt on his life as an occupational hazard. However, Lana's shave with death was personal and punishable.

'_Let's finish this.'_


	2. Embarrassment

Disclaimer: The characters and world of 'Smallville' do not belong to me. However,I promise to put them back (in more or less the same condition) when I'm done playing with them.

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_Embarrassment--(Reunion tag)_

Truth be told, perishing at the point of one's weapon stood out as the greatest embarrassment to any warrior.

Somehow, Oliver never envisioned his life would end at the tip of his own arrow, helplessly pinned to the wall of his loft.

Life, _justice_, simply should not work that way.

Yet stuck there, watching his new EMP arrow loom closer, he brain reeled with the irony. At least nobody was there to witness his demise.

That is, until Clark showed up.

"Are you okay?"

Relief tempering the piercing pain, Ollie quipped wearily to his rescuer, "Yeah Clark, just hanging out."


	3. Delusion

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Delusion--(Reunion tag)_

Snippets of memory surfaced to the forefront of his mind.

He remembered glass shattering and forcefully diving towards the floor.

He vaguely remembered a brief glimpse of green light, blinding his peripheral vision.

He thought he remembered a hulking figure bent over Oliver's prone form, an arrow protruding from his bloody shoulder.

He certainly remembered groaning and seeing Clark Kent directing paramedics before the room spun into inky darkness.

Now, in a hospital bed, with a concussion that required a nurse to wake him every few hours, Lex tried cataloging the hazy recollections that slipped like water from his grasp.


	4. Answers

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Answers--(Reunion tag)_

"Relax Lex," called Lana softly as she took the hand of the figure waking in bed before her.

Lex allowed the spinning to cease before focusing on her, "What happened?"

Smiling sympathetically Lana explained, "You have a concussion from the heavy fall you took. Now, our bumps match."

"Aren't we lucky?" Lex quipped deadpan.

"Actually yes," began Lana brushing a strand of hair off her face, "The shattering window and dive knocked you unconscious, but not Oliver. He was shot while distracting Duncan."

"Shot? Duncan?" Lex's head spun at the implications of her words—and it wasn't from the concussion.


	5. Musings

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Musings--(Reunion tag)_

Peering into the 'semi-private' hospital room, Lex mulled over the unconscious source of his confusion. There lay a man (along with his late friends) who made his youth terrible. In school, Oliver displayed everything that Lex thought he wanted; power, influence, self-assurance.

From Duncan's demise onward, Lex strove to even the playing field; to surpass. But from the moment he stepped into the Excelsior reunion, old feelings of insecurity rose from the depths of his memory.

_He_ altered himself from those schoolboy days, but never considered that others might change too.

Could Oliver Queen, notoriously self-absorbed playboy, protect an enemy?


	6. Comfort

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Comfort--(Reunion tag)_

In a flurry of high heeled shoes, flowers, balloons, and chocolate Lois set about turning his sterile room into something akin to the hospital gift shop.

Sitting down next to him, Lois started rattling off her additions, "Okay we've got the ultimate hospital 'Get-Well' basket—sans anything with nuts: chocolate, candy, Teddy-bears, balloons, and oodles of flower arrangements. Not all of them are from me by the way! Two hundred of your closest Metropolis friends sent you a card…"

She would have kept raving had Ollie not used his good arm to pull her close enough to kiss.

"Thanks Lois."


	7. Choices

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Choices--_(Reunion tag)

Glancing up from her clipboard, the nurse stated businesslike, "Well Mr. Queen, you need to keep that shoulder immobilized so it heals properly."

"I have to wear a sling?" Ollie pouted as he waited for the nurse to confirm his suspicions. Needing to crash in his own bed, he sought to expedite his hospital release. He favored personal control of his environment too much to stay a patient much longer.

The nurse mentally shook herself from the mesmerizing charm of her patient, "Yes, do you have a particular color preference—red, navy, dark green, brown, khaki, black?"

"Green is good."


	8. Mystery

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Mystery--_(Reunion tag)

Closing the file before him Lex leaned back in his chair, pondering. The circumstances surrounding Duncan's death were suspicious, but details of the project more than compensated for everything.

No, something entirely different troubled him.

Spending several days wracking his brain for the hazy details from the penthouse attack, Lex clung to his memories. He swore Oliver had not been shot by any modern firearm like the hospital report indicated.

Why the cover story?

And what the hell was Queen doing with a lone green arrow in his penthouse? Lex only knew one elusive individual who used_ that_ calling card.


	9. Investigation

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Investigation_

He understood the futility of confronting Oliver directly about the arrow from his memory. Lex doubted Oliver would confide in him his favorite color—let alone any information about Green Arrow. They tolerated one another, but they were hardly bosom buddies.

Not finding a scrap of information connecting Green Arrow publically or privately to an attack at Queen Industries, or its CEO, Lex should have dropped the search. But his gut urged him of some unknown significance.

Unable to drop the inquiry, Lex needed an explanation for why Oliver Queen happened to have a green arrow lying around his penthouse!


	10. Lying

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Lying_

Lying, secret agendas, hiding behind masks of charm, sarcasm or wealth; it all became disgustingly easy after a while.

Manipulating people and situations to convince others of what he wanted them to believe no longer challenged him.

But as each day passed, lying to _her_ grew more difficult. Her charming smile, rapier wit, and vibrancy captivated him entirely.

He told himself it was to protect _them_. To keep _her_ safe, keeping his extracurriculars secret from her was a necessary charade!

Yet, even the smooth talking Oliver Queen could not deceive himself.

He was head over heels for one Lois Lane.


	11. Anger

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Anger_

(Post Justice)

Initially, he proved only a nuisance, and Lex could handle a relatively low level, attention seeking thief.

But despite numerous attempts to exterminate the problem, it only blossomed into a full blown, migraine inducing, thorn in his side!

And now, with his merry little band of freaking thieves at his side, the Green Arrow was REALLY starting to make Lex angry.

The entire concept of the 'Justice League' (spearheaded by one leather-clad-arrow-welding vigilante) was too much to swallow. They were constantly infiltrating labs, stealing information, and blowing up facilities.

Downing his cocktail, Lex vowed to emerge victorious in the end.


	12. Means

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Means--_(post Justice)

From behind a large monitor in Oliver's penthouse—one of the infrequent times she assisted the JL, Chloe warned, "Go left Impulse. Your other left. Watch out Cyborg, Aquaman two thugs approaching."

Suddenly a computer alarm beeped, and a new window opened indicating an intrusion of a private sector of the Queen Industries database.

Stunned only momentarily, Chloe sprang into action typing commands viciously."I hope your computer fries!"

"You okay there Watchtower?" Green Arrow's distorted voice bringing her back to the mission at hand.

Chloe smiled to herself, "I think I just crashed a hacker's system."

"Cool," Chorused the guys.


	13. Power

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing!

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_Power_

An irate Lex was beside himself as he paced, "What do you mean it just died? I fund you well enough to prevent that kind of thing, and you lost the back-ups too!"

A meek scientist fumbled a reply over the phone, thankful he did not have to report to his boss in person.

"They can do that?" Lex breathed in anger.

"Yes Mr. Luthor," the scientist cringed, "We lost everything."

If he had hair, Lex would have certainly pulled it out by now. Every scrap of evidence they gathered was fried, and still no conclusive findings on those arrows!


	14. Wealth

Disclaimer: Not mine. I stress, NOT MINE.

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_Wealth_

(post Siren)

All of the wealth in the world mattered little if the hired help decided to cancel a deal because it went against their 'convictions.'

It was simply another reminder of why people could not be trusted. If that annoying little Canary had only done her job, he would have his most troublesome problem accounted for.

Resisting the urge to break something, Lex found himself interrupted by a knock at the door. It was his secretary.

"New lab results, sir."

Dismissing him, Lex sat back down to peruse the information, hoping his people had finally traced the source of those arrows.


End file.
